Bastard of the Day

A 45-year-old Near Northwest Side man is facing felony animal cruelty charges, accused of throwing a 17-year-old Labrador retriever to its death from the a third-floor balcony Wednesday, police said.

Okay, "innocent until proven guilty" aside, this guy is one sick bastard. Any dog that age is pretty darn old, but for a dog the size of a Labrador retriever, 17 is ancient (Wikipedia gives a Lab's life span as "12-16 years"). No dog deserves that, especially after all those years of being a faithful companion and family member (even a cat doesn't deserve that, although my daily-barfing roommate here at DJWriter World HQ tests my patience). There could be no excuse for such barbaric behavior. Even if the dog was dying, my wife pointed out, there are several places in the city that will euthanize an elderly dog for free.